Try new isle for pen: gov

THE SITUATION at Rikers Island is “intolerable” and the site must be closed, Gov. Cuomo said, suggesting Wards Island as a possible spot for a new jail. Cuomo on Sunday said the city should shut down Rikers and build two to three new jails in its place, giving a more specific road map than he has in past calls to abandon the troubled complex. “Rikers Island is one of those long-term injustices and abuses that every New Yorker should be outraged about,” he said after an unrelated event in the Bronx. “The situation is intolerable.” He countered Mayor de Blasio’s claim that closing Rikers is a “noble” idea but all but impossible logistically.“Look, we can build a jail, right?” Cuomo said. “We’re not asking people to take a rocket to Mars and set up a community for human beings to live. This is construction of a jail, right? It’s not an especially taxing enterprise.” Asked where new jails could go, Cuomo pointed to Wards Island, which is off Manhattan and houses a state psychiatric facility for the criminally insane. “I would look at Wards Island,” he said, adding the City Council would make the final decision through its land-use process. De Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips responded to Cuomo Sunday night, saying, “Rikers’ challenges are far from new. But, as someone who runs a state prison system defined by escapees, deplorable conditions and widespread racial bias, we welcome him to the conversation.”